Ashura in the City

During the holy days of Moharram there's a lot of activity at night on the streets. 

One tradition is for people to make a pilgrimage to light candles at various makeshift stations around the city near mosques. 



The candles are just stuck on nooks in nearby walls.



It didn't seem that safe to me...

Some people aim to light candles at 40 different stations around the city.  When lighting a candle you're supposed to make a wish.  If your wish comes true, the person will often pledge to make food to distribute to others during the month of Moharram next year, like this lady serving sholo zard:

The food is meant for anyone.  It's not aimed specifically for the less fortunate or anything.  In fact, eating this donated food is thought to be especially holy.  One person I met had his dinner every night at stations like this during the holy month.  A good way to save money!!

Some people set up elaborate stations and staff them with their entire families.  This one is serving tea:

I ended up going into a religious building that was all women.

It was overwhelming to be surrounded by so many chadoris in one room! 

These women were tying strings around a holy shrine to make wishes.

After I had taken a few photos, we heard an announcement over the loudspeaker which even with my limited farsi I understood to be prohibiting photos.  In my defense, I wasn't the only one.  Many younger women were taking cell phone photos as well! 

Where's Waldo in the Village of Andon?

This was my outfit for the trip:

The women are more conservative and religious in the villages, in general, so of course I stuck out like a sore thumb amidst all the black chadors (the black sheet, essentially, that the women wrap around themselves).  It wasn't really a problem, as I was still dressed acceptably in my long manteau (trench coat) and hijab.  Luckily, my sister-in-law gave me a more subdued hijab, as I had only brought brightly coloured ones, which would be inappropriate to wear outside during the holy days of Moharrem.

Even the young girls were wearing hijabs, even though it's only required at age 9:

This girl has a winnie the pooh hijab!

Here's me with some young teens in the village:

Spot the foreigner!

A lot of the women still wore the black chadors inside the house too:

The woman second from the left, who was our hostess, is wearing a house chador which is made of lighter fabric.  Often when women visit another home the hostess will offer one of these house chadors to wear instead of the heavier black chador. 

I even tried one on for fun:

After a little while visiting, the women wanted me to go in another room with them where they were more relaxed. 

They brought out cheetos (regular and crunchy), which they called by name....

(The father operates a convenience store out of part of his house). 

Then they showed me wedding photos and videos of a couple of recent family weddings, which seems to be a common occurrence in these women-only groups.  In the photos the women are unrecognizable because of all the heavy makeup.  They wear Western style dresses with lots of skin showing in the female-only section of the party.

The women were very friendly and eager to try to communicate even though some couldn't speak any English.

As we were leaving, our hostess asked me if in America they say "Death to Iran" like they say "Death to America" in Iran.  That was pretty funny!